Fertility

With our broad portfolio of treatment options, devices and advanced fertility technologies, we aim to contribute to improved treatment outcomes that help couples fulfill the dream of parenthood.

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Innovating to help realize the dream of parenthood

Infertility affects millions of couples worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as the failure to achieve pregnancy after 12 months or more of trying to conceive without using contraceptives [1]. For women over 35, a couple should see a doctor after trying to conceive for six months [2]. Many different factors influence a couple’s ability to conceive, including natural, biological processes in both the male and female body. But lifestyle factors – such as a high body mass index, stress, smoking, caffeine and alcohol intake as well as exposure to environmental pollutants – also play a part [3].

We are a world market leader in fertility treatments and the only company to offer recombinant versions of the three natural hormones needed to treat infertility as well as a complete and clinically proven portfolio of fertility treatment at every stage of the reproductive cycle. In this way, we want to help couples to realize their dream of having a baby. Building on our fertility expertise that goes back to 1906 we continuously generated fertility innovation. 20 years ago, we were able to bring to market the world’s first recombinant human product to treat infertility. This initiated a new era of research and development, and due in part to our innovations an estimated 2.5 million babies have been brought into the world. The treatment journey is challenging for patients, and we aim to make this journey as easy as possible for them. For some of our products we developed convenient and ready-to-use injection devices. With these pre-filled pens there is no more need for mixing which helps to improve treatment experience as well as reduce potential mixing and dosing errors.

Striving to further extend our global footprint, we are committed to strengthening the core of our drug business with focus on growth markets. We are dedicated to providing high quality products to the patients and to ensuring the needed infrastructure to achieve this. We drive innovation, and continuous scientific progress is the basis to improve ART outcomes for patients.

Today, the fertility market is changing fast, and the importance of technologies become more and more evident. In 2014, we entered the field of fertility technologies. We want to support couples on their fertility journey in every way we can. As the steps taken in the laboratory play a critical role in increasing treatment success rates, innovative technologies can make a real difference. We now combine our existing drug portfolio with a continuously expanding range of technologies that aims to improve standardization, automation and excellence in assisted reproductive treatment (ART).

We are committed to continue the development of innovative technologies and have founded the ARTinnovations development hub , an incubator for ideas and innovations for fertility treatments, with our partner Genea Biomedx.

We strive to improve in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments and technologies continuously, partnering with global experts to achieve this goal. Together with our partners, we founded the Global Fertility Alliance (GFA)for Excellence in Assisted Reproductive Treatment, a collaboration to advance excellence in fertility technologies and processes in ART laboratories.

Together with Genea Fertility we have opened the First Centre of Excellence for Fertility, a state-of-the-art training facility to support ART professionals with a range of ongoing educational opportunities.

[2] American Society for Reproductive Medicine. 2012. Age and Fertility – A guide for patients. Available at: http://www. reproductivefacts.org/uploadedFiles/ASRM_Content/Resources/Patient_Resources/Fact_Sheets_and_Info_Booklets/agefertility.pdf. Last access: February 2016

Collaboration for innovation

The Global Fertility Alliance (GFA)

In our quest to improve fertility treatment outcomes for couples, we have joined forces with other leading companies in the fertility field. This includes the Australian fertility technology pioneer Genea Biomedx, Illumina from San Diego, US, that develops systems for analysis of genetic variation and function, ZEISS, Oberkochen, Germany, an internationally leading technology enterprise operating in the optics and optoelectronics industries, and Hamilton Thorne Ltd., Beverly, Massachusetts, US, a leading provider of precision laser devices and advanced image analysis systems for ART, regenerative medicine and developmental biology research markets. Through this collaboration, called the Global Fertility Alliance (GFA), we aim to improve the consistency in ART laboratories worldwide. The focus lies on a three-pronged approach to promoting standardization: integrating multiple leading fertility technologies, helping develop global standards, and evolving educational resources for healthcare professionals worldwide.

A collaboration between our company and Genea Biomedx, ARTinnovations is an incubator for ideas and innovations in fertility treatment. It aims to develop an innovative pipeline of technologies and services that will give healthcare professionals the objective information they need to make important treatment decisions. For example, ARTinnovations was the driving force behind the Geri™+ benchtop incubator, which gives embryologists access to embryo analytics. It also developed the Gidget™ witnessing and tracking system that reduces error potential and supports laboratory workflows.

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